The Killing Game by Amanda Feyerbend

Author:Amanda Feyerbend [Feyerbend, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amanda Feyerbend
Published: 2021-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

Back at the hospital, Simone thought as she watched her mother’s chest rise and fall under the blanket tucked up to her chin.

The doctors thought she’d had another stroke and were running tests. It would be hard to tell what effect this would have on her already fragile body.

Years of physical abuse at the hands of Simone’s father, Fred, had left her mother in a near-vegetative state. A traumatic brain injury stole most of Lisa’s ability to speak, much of her vision, and her wit and humor that had carried them through Simone’s harrowing childhood. She couldn’t even hold a conversation anymore. Her attention span and memory were almost non-existent.

As she watched her mother sleeping, a memory came back to her, so vivid and agonizing that she drew her hands into fists, her fingernails digging into the flesh on her palms. The on-again, off-again headache she’d had since the shooting roared back to life.

She’d been only nine or ten at the time, and she had to watch—there hadn’t been enough time to flee the room—as Fred held her mother down on the floor and beat the shit out of her. Simone had cuddled Evan, her toddler baby brother, in her arms, shrouding his eyes and hoping his wails weren’t louder than the cries from her mother and her father’s furious slurs as he beat her.

Later that night, he’d raped Lisa even though he’d broken several of her ribs. She hadn’t gone to the emergency room, of course, but Lisa knew those, along with her wrist, were broken—she’d told Simone between the two attacks. Simone was forced to listen to the assault from her bedroom, her hands covering her ears as she sang to herself to try to drown out the noise.

Her mother couldn’t leave. Her husband was the Sheriff of their small town. He was beloved in the community. His constituents kissed the ground he walked on to this very day. They’d never believe the monster he became once he was off the clock.

But Simone could leave. And she did. Simone studied hard in high school and got a generous scholarship, which included residence in the dormitory. When she left for her first semester, she packed all of her possessions—having gotten rid of what wasn’t needed beforehand—and left, vowing never to live with that demon again.

She realized later that he’d probably relished her departure. He’d only ever verbally abused Simone, but he grew tired of that game once she got older and gained enough nerve to battle back against his words, hers stunning him into silence.

When she did come home for holidays—always staying in a hotel—her mother’s injuries seemed worse. She’d wondered if leaving had anything to do with her father’s increased aggression. Had her departure bolstered his need to reign over his wife? Perhaps he was compelled to prove his dominance to her brother. Probably thought he was helping to make him a man.

Evan moved out in the same way she did, getting a scholarship to Stanford. He’d never returned from the west coast.

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